Star Leaf (DVD)

Star Leaf is a sci-fi thriller about three friends who search for a forest of extra-terrestrial marijuana hidden deep in the Olympic Mountains and find much more than they bargained for. Starring Russell Hodgkinson and Julian Gavilanes of Sy-Fy's Z-Nation, the adventure begins when Tim (Tyler Trerise) introduces his girlfriend Martha (Shelby Truax) and his Afghanistan war buddy James (Gavilanes) to the legendary Star Leaf, anticipating an out-of-this-world high and the chance to cure James's PTSD. Things start to get strange when a forest ranger (Richard Cranor) mysteriously shows up at their late-night campfire with tales of alien visitors and odd animal behavior in the forest. And when Tim and Martha break the Star Leaf "code of conduct," the evil aliens guarding the plant begin to stalk them. Reality, memory, and fantasy blur for James, whose flashbacks of the war mix with his sense of the current danger. Heedless of James's warnings, Tim and Martha walk into a trap, and James must fight for all their lives against his own inner demons and even larger forces from beyond.

• science fiction